The Analogue Painting Challenge Retrospective

The annual Analogue Painting Challenge is over.  It passed in a flash, and yet the beginning feels like it was years ago.  As is traditional, and true to my character, it's time for a quick retrospective of what I accomplished.

This year's banner.

I did not have a lot of goals going in.  I set my par at 600 points.  I beat that, but only with points for the bonus rounds.  I did not paint the number of models that I had set out to do.  On the other hand, I did get a lot of painting done, which was my real goal.  At one point, in the first two weeks, I was actually in seventh place.  My final finish was 32nd with 681 points.

First Entry.  Reaper Bones.

My first entry was for the non-combatant bonus round.  A Reaper Bones model of a bar wench.  It's the first, and probably last time, that I painted eyes on a model.  I was pleased with the free hand on her skirt.

EIR Roman auxiliary infantry

My second entry was auxiliaries for my EIR Roman army for Hail Caesar.  I was not painting attention so had to do a couple of these for another unit, but this all but completed my second cohort of auxiliary infantry.

The last of the Auxiliaries, for now.

The third entry was the rest of the Auxiliary infantry.  Cohortes V Gallorum.  This gives me three units to back up the legionaries.

Warlord Aux Cav.  These guys are not great models.

My fourth entry was another unit for the Romans, my second of cavalry.  These guys are medium horse.  Terrible models from Warlord.  I'll not be buying any more of these if I can find another manufacturer that I like.

Six more cavalry of the Equites I Thracum.

Entry number five was the other half of the above unit.  This gives me twelve of these, which should be a good hammer unit for Hail Caesar.

Rogers Rangers for charity.

Entry number six was eight Roger's Rangers for FIW.  These were painted for Bloggers for Charity.  I'm pleased with how they came out, especially the green.  I can only hope that someone will pay hard earned money for them when the time comes.

Nazgul for my Harad army for Lord of the Rings.

Switching gears in a big way, the next entry was for the Villains bonus round.  My Betrayer model has sat on my painting table since the first part of 2012.  It was good to get these painted and off to command their troops.

One U.S. Rifle squad for the Normandy campaign.

Jumping forward a couple of centuries and a genre or two I got some paint on my WWII G.I.s.  These are Warlord plastics and are nice models.  There is a lot of variety and plenty of weapons.  These are a great way to fill out an army for Chain of Command or Bolt Action.

Free hand division patch and rank. 

Entry nine is the second rifle squad for this army.  I painted them up as the Tough Hombres, my Grandad's Division.

The LT, Plt Sgt, Bazooka team and sniper.

Entry numero ten was the last five models out of the box.  These made a Lt, and some specialists.  The variety in the poses shows just how versatile this kit is.

Aragorn, not GW's finest work.

Entry eleven was for the favorite character round.  Aragorn has always been a standout favorite, and I happened to have a model lying around, so this was an easy choice.

A Celt casualty marker.

My twelfth entry was for the casualty bonus round, but I missed the weekend so they just got submitted as painted models.  Again, Warlord games model; this time on a Litko base.

CMG Mech for my 15mm Sci/Fi.

Lucky entry thirteen was another missed bonus round.  This one was for the vehicle round.  The model is one of CMG's new 15mm Mechs, painted up in a savanna camo.

Boudicca's last moments.

Fourteen was a bonus round entry that I actually managed to submit in time for the bonus round.  This was the last stand round and I painted up Boudicca for it.  The Auxiliary and casualty are Warlord.  The awful Boudicca is Wargames Factory.

Foundry French Franco-Prussian War lancer.

My last entry was, appropriately, the Curt-geld fee for entering the challenge.  This is from the movie Major Dundee, which I watched as a kid with my father.  This is my favorite model of the challenge.

All in all, a showing I'm proud of.  I enjoyed the challenge and hope that Curt does it again next year.  Thank you, again, to Curt for all of the hard work.  I strongly encourage anyone who hasn't yet, to go to his site and just revel in the painted awesomeness on display.  My efforts are, truly, third rate compared to some of the amazing stuff on offer there.